Remote management of assets (e.g., products, goods, fuel, resources, etc.) can be quite problematic especially when a manager does not have direct access to asset data. Consider the fuel distribution industry as an example where gasoline is stored in underground tanks located at gas stations and gasoline is delivered via tanker trucks. A fuel distribution company could use the station's tank information to determine how best to deliver fuel to the stations, but does not have direct access to a station's gasoline inventory or tank levels. Some stations utilize automatic tank gauges to monitor tank levels and provide such information to a station operator. Unfortunately, the fuel distribution company does not have access to such information, even if it is in electronic form, because the data is typically located behind a firewall under control of a third party; a station owner for example, rather than the distribution company. Further, the distribution company's management interfaces could be located behind a firewall, which increase the difficulty of exchanging data. The circumstances of accessing asset data are similar with respect to distribution or management of other types of asset; groceries, inventories, resources, sensor data, or other types of assets.
Others have put forth effort to monitor or manage assets. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,554,441 to Viegers et al. titled “system and Method for Real-Time Management of Mobile Resources”, filed Oct. 16, 2006, describes using sending sensor data through wireless communication networks from mobile resources (i.e., vehicles) to a data center. Viegers is useful for monitor vehicles, but fails to provide insight into asset management.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,551 to Davis et al. titled “Method and Apparatus for Management of Automated Fuel Delivery System”, filed Jul. 2, 1998, makes further progress. Davis describes monitoring and delivering fuel to vehicles, and communicating fuel tank sensor data to a central control unit, which allows for fuel inventory management. Unfortunately, Davis lacks any indication of how to obtain asset status information or other asset data when the asset data is located behind a firewall.
Further progress is described in U.S. patent application publication 2010/0023162 to Gresak et al. titled “Method, System and Components for Operating a Fuel Distribution System with Unmanned Self-Service Gasoline Stations”, filed as an international application on Dec. 8, 2004. Gresak discusses coordinating fuel delivery from supply vehicles to gasoline stations. Although Gresak describes a more substantial fuel management system, Gresak also fails to address obtaining asset information that is located behind a firewall.
U.S. patent application publication 2003/0050808 to Mor titled “System, Method and Computer Program Product for an Electronic Mail VPN in a Supply Chain Management Framework”, filed Mar. 23, 2001, describes using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) via email to obtain data, especially when firewalls are used for security. However, configuring a firewall or other network management equipment to support a VPN is beyond the ability of most individual third parties (e.g., a gas station operator).
Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints, and open-ended ranges should be interpreted to include commercially practical values. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary.
Thus, there is still a need for asset management systems that provide for a data exchanged between asset monitoring equipment located behind a firewall and an asset management engine.